Visions of an Emerging New West amid the Old

Traveling from Ft. Worth Texas through southern Colorado onto Phoenix gave me a window into the west I know, aging, and a newer emerging west. This new west I'm seeing glimpses of is still rurally grounded but coming into a new world of independence and technology.

Some of the sights were wistful, others encouraging, some could have been easily seen on my first trip through in 1977. The wander itself was fascinating. As always, the vastness of the American West is almost overwhelming, the road very long. As a child of the American West it is also simultaneously deeply familiar.

Cowgirl Museum. Ft. Worth, TX. 2015.
Canon 5DSr.

Western iconography has long fascinated me. I am a product of it, both real and mythical. My world view was initially shaped by images of vast horizons, rugged outdoorsmen, almost extreme independence and a blur of manhood evolving from cowboy to astronaut.

When I move across the west on my photographic journeys, it is often like moving around home, but still alien as well. I get immersed in John Ford mythology, my own family history and the breakaway 1960's in which I came of age. It is both embrace and distance––a kind of forever coming to terms with what made me, and who I actually am. Not to mention who I want to be.

Photography can be a compelling instrument of self-exploration.

Big Sky Oasis. Rest Stop on Highway 287. Hardeman County. Texas. 2015.
Canon 5DSr.

Photography can also make you see differently, and think about what you see in alternative contexts. I know I think about symbols and their visual manifestations that tell larger stories. The Rest Stop up on the Texas expanse heading to Amarillo, becomes not just an oasis for road relief, but a construct of modernism onto what seems like much older human occupation.

Donley Cotton Gin. Lelia, Texas Panhandle. 2015.
Canon 5DSr.

The New West. Texas Panhandle. 2015.
Canon 5DSr.

As the road got longer and lonelier, it seemed a new world was creeping into the landscape. Where once old decaying windmill water-pumps were scattered across the west, now sleek huge propellers spin across this land, producing power from the movement of the air across these plains. It's poetic.

Still more propeller blades were loaded on Semi Trailer Rigs rolling by on the highways. Something seems to be afoot. Renewable energy and fierce rural independence seem to be blending into a new western reality.

I may be over-reading it as well.

American Dinosaur. Amarillo. Texas. 2015.
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My Western Artifacts series was drifting through my mind as the parade of expanse stretched out across flat horizons. When more of our peculiar roadside attractions popped up, the rental car seemed to home in, with a few improvised turn-arounds and likely quizzical expressions on my face.

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Tepee on Route 66. Tucumcari, New Mexico. 2015.
Canon 5DSr.

Danford Dan's Music Shop after Fire. Tucumcari, New Mexico. 2015.

Driving around Tucumcari felt like moving though a time warp, perhaps even a color version of the Twilight Zone. From the classic train depot, to a very lonely old downtown, and the historic Route 66 right through the south side of town, Tucumcari is a good wander.

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Great Sand Dunes National Park. Colorado. 2015.
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Visiting the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern Colorado has been on my agenda since my first sand dune experience in Death Valley. On this trip I was determined to take a look around, even if needing to rout my Ft. Worth to Phoenix trip way northward.

The dunes are huge, and very different than I had seen before. It was clear to me I had to come back, with 4-wheel drive, to really explore and camp, to actually get to know this place a bit. This visit was only a touch.

I had not been to Taos in nearly twenty years, and so in my circuitous wanderings I planned a long arc up into Colorado from Texas, then back down to New Mexico through Taos and Santa Fe. As is most always the case, I didn't know what might turn up along the way.

Earthship Site near Taos, New Mexico. 2015.
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On my way south to Taos, I came across a most curious place, Earthship Biotechture, complete with Visitor Center. It is an earth friendly construction company/community that specializes in earth friendly energy independent housing and sustainable long-term occupancy. Although not related, it reminded me of the Arcosanti site south of Sedona. Taking the tour was fascinating with great promise and concrete reality in evidence.

Coming over the hill into Taos reminded me of past trips as I came over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. A Rest Stop is perched on its north side, making it a perfect site for photographing the the great arch of steel. I doubt I added anything to my previous photographs, or those of countless others, but it is always good to see such a strange confluence of natural and man-made form. I have always been struck at how these elements seem to meld in some inexplicable way.

Totem. Kiva Coffee Shop. Santa Fe. NW.. 2015.
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At breakfast in the Taos Kachina Lodge, I discovered what most visitors probably already knew, the motel coffee shop is built around an awesome Totem. Carved in 1962, the totem completely dominates the space and I found it delightful, even if not seeming terribly authentic. It fit the coffee shop perfectly.

Cholla Power plant. Joseph City. Arizona. 2015.
Canon 5DSr. See Video.

West of Holbrook Arizona, I came across a huge coal-fired power plant, pouring steam into the air, and was completely drawn into the rising, billowing white steam. The irony of power being pulled out of this desert, from the organic fecundity of ancient life turned to coal, was not lost on me. Coupled with all of the wind turbines I had been seeing along the way, the contrast of this huge power plant was startling.

In looking up the Cholla Power plant, I found some of it is scheduled to be shut down, and some units may yet convert to natural gas.

I couldn't help but run some video of the smokestacks billowing upward.

In between lectures at Sun City, AZ and Arizona State University in Tempe, I spent a day at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. It was a wonderful experience. Although the cover provided by the rented umbrella proved critical for the day, the light from the rain was soft and beautiful.

The Gardens will make a huge contribution to my Life Form Project and will take quite some time to fully assess what I manged to photograph there. I know walking its paths was a visual gift of organic form and strange color in the bluish light of the day.

Desert Botanical Garden. Tempe, Arizona. 2015
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There were so many stops along the way, Meteor Crater, Sedona, a horse mural in one New Mexico town, native American and pioneer scenes on what looked like grain storage bins in another town, and so many more. Some may show up in future newsletters, but there are just too many to include here.

I fear this column sometimes becomes mere travelogue. Of course, I guess I could also ask what's wrong with that? Maybe I think I should be coming up with profound conclusions from my wanderings. Profundity usually escapes me, but photographic wandering captivates me. And, of course, my chosen medium is photography.

I hope the illustrated writing about the wandering is of some value. Please let me know.

Recently at SJ Photo

A new Life Form photograph.

Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens. 2015.
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The Life Form project drew me back in as I traveled. From the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens to Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden. I am hooked on these forms.

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